I'm doing IGAD's tutorials (AGAIN..) and already now I'm stuck on part 1.. (pathetic, I know). I've gone through where you have to change all the different layout settings etc, but now I'm stuck at where I have to run the first piece of code (the "hello world" sample). I followed EVERYTHING in the tutorial precisely, but I get an error when I hit F5 to run the code. I've quadruple-checked EVERYTHING, and it's still not working. I have a screenshot of the error, but I don't know how to post that here.

The error says: "Unable to start program 'C:\my_projects\part1\Debug\part1.exe'. The system cannot find the file specified.

Basically, there is a file missing or something. I've looked in the debug folder, and there is indeed no "part1.exe" there. I don't even know how or when the file should get there, but I'm 100% sure I havent deleted or messed up anything. As I said, I followed the tutorial precisely, and quadruple-checked everything.

I'm about to lose my nerves because of this. I've tried hours to get this to work, but no success.

I'm doing IGAD's tutorials (AGAIN..) and already now I'm stuck on part 1.. (pathetic, I know). I've gone through where you have to change all the different layout settings etc, but now I'm stuck at where I have to run the first piece of code (the "hello world" sample). I followed EVERYTHING in the tutorial precisely, but I get an error when I hit F5 to run the code. I've quadruple-checked EVERYTHING, and it's still not working. I have a screenshot of the error, but I don't know how to post that here.

The error says: "Unable to start program 'C:\my_projects\part1\Debug\part1.exe'. The system cannot find the file specified.

Basically, there is a file missing or something. I've looked in the debug folder, and there is indeed no "part1.exe" there. I don't even know how or when the file should get there, but I'm 100% sure I havent deleted or messed up anything. As I said, I followed the tutorial precisely, and quadruple-checked everything.

I'm about to lose my nerves because of this. I've tried hours to get this to work, but no success.

Slow down, "part1.exe" is probably the name of the executable that is generated from your code and will be executed. The error indicates successful compilation, but some trouble with your executing environment. Why don't you give us a bit more details.

Slow down, "part1.exe" is probably the name of the executable that is generated from your code and will be executed. The error indicates successful compilation, but some trouble with your executing environment. Why don't you give us a bit more details.

Okay.. what details? And what do you mean by executing environment? I know little to nothing about programming.. =\

Okay.. what details? And what do you mean by executing environment? I know little to nothing about programming.. =\

OK, we can see that. The compiler is translating the source code you are writing (given in the tutorial) to an executable program (test1.exe). The computer can execute "test1.exe" if it existed. If it does not exist there was some error during the compilation. Is this the only message the compiler is giving you? Were there some errors, some warnings? Do you have permissions to create files in the Debug directory?

OK, we can see that. The compiler is translating the source code you are writing (given in the tutorial) to an executable program (test1.exe). The computer can execute "test1.exe" if it existed. If it does not exist there was some error during the compilation. Is this the only message the compiler is giving you? Were there some errors, some warnings? Do you have permissions to create files in the Debug directory?

Well this is now pretty straightforward, Visual Studio cannot compile the resources of your project, because the resource compiler "rc.exe" cannot start for some reason. Do you have that file somewhere in your Visual Studio directory? Do you have permissions to execute it? This looks like a serious error to me that implies broken Visual Studio installation. Look here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/d5cbdh4t(v=vs.80).aspx for more causes.

Oh, and don't be frustrated if you have no idea what you are even doing. You'll learn eventually.

Well this is now pretty straightforward, Visual Studio cannot compile the resources of your project, because the resource compiler "rc.exe" cannot start for some reason. Do you have that file somewhere in your Visual Studio directory? Do you have permissions to execute it? This looks like a serious error to me that implies broken Visual Studio installation. Look here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/d5cbdh4t(v=vs.80).aspx for more causes. Oh, and don't be frustrated if you have no idea what you are even doing. You'll learn eventually.

Well, thanks for the help! I'll try to reinstall Visual Studio. The weird thing though, is that I didn't get any errors when installing. Anyway, I'll try my best to learn, but the thing I don't like with these tutorials is that they only tell you what to do, and don't explain what you are doing. So in a way I'm only following instructions without actually knowing what I'm doing. Oh well, thanks again.

It's your interpretation of the tutorials, they also tell you what you are doing, but it's fairly low-level. There are tutorials that explain matters on a higher level. Perhaps you should start with another language that abstracts technical details away, like LUA or Python. But you can spend some time learning the theory of compilation, execution etc. that are absolutely fundamental to computers.

It's your interpretation of the tutorials, they also tell you what you are doing, but it's fairly low-level. There are tutorials that explain matters on a higher level. Perhaps you should start with another language that abstracts technical details away, like LUA or Python. But you can spend some time learning the theory of compilation, execution etc. that are absolutely fundamental to computers.

I tried reinstalling Visual Studio, and this time I didn't get any errors in the installation, but I'm still getting the same error (where it can't find "part1.exe") when I try to run the code. Did you say the part1 file gets created when I compile the code? Because it's still missing, and "rc.exe" is also still missing. Doesn't seem logical to me, because my last installation went without errors. I don't know what's wrong now.. =\

I have another theory: it may be because you don't have permission to write to the folder 'c:\my_projects\part1\', because it is located in the root directory. Windows is a bit squeamish about that. Try moving the 'part1' directory to your documents folder(or even the desktop), and try reloading the project file from there, and see what it says.

I have another theory: it may be because you don't have permission to write to the folder 'c:\my_projects\part1\', because it is located in the root directory. Windows is a bit squeamish about that. Try moving the 'part1' directory to your documents folder(or even the desktop), and try reloading the project file from there, and see what it says.

OK, have you googled about missing rc.exe? I just tried to query a bit, but to no avail. Anyhow, try to google yourself the exact error message. Install the service packs, install all patches. If you are on Windows 7 this seems to be a known problem indeed. You're not alone there.

OK, have you googled about missing rc.exe? I just tried to query a bit, but to no avail. Anyhow, try to google yourself the exact error message. Install the service packs, install all patches. If you are on Windows 7 this seems to be a known problem indeed. You're not alone there.

I'm using Windows XP SP3. I didn't have these errors earlier on this computer, but I formatted it a few weeks ago. I have all the latest windows updates, .net framework, and so on. I'll try searching around for a solution, though.